Transformers or G.I. Joe?

[Arkhandus]

Transformers! Definately Transformers! W00T!! Heheh....

G.I. Joe, while also cool for us '80s kids, can already be done easily in D20 Modern or Spycraft with hardly any rules tweaking... Except that all guns would shoot little laser bolts instead of bullets, like blasters in Star Wars. Because, y'know, we can't have bullets on a kid's TV cartoon, cuz bullets kill people, bullets are bad, bullets are evil.... But LASERS....lasers are good, lasers are safe and wholesome and just sting a little. :^D

 

[Tonguez]

Transformers

and from what I remember Transformers often got hit and had system failures that caused them to shut down - of course the next episode would show them being fixed up by the Ambulance transformer (Ratchet iirc)

and as most know Optimus Prime got 'killed'

 

[Epametheus]

Transformers

and from what I remember Transformers often got hit and had system failures that caused them to shut down - of course the next episode would show them being fixed up by the Ambulance transformer (Ratchet iirc)

and as most know Optimus Prime got 'killed'

It took freaking Omnicrom to plot-damage Optimus out of existence, but it was also done during the movie, which is about as good as the rest of the Transformers series put together.

Also, Optimus Prime "got better" later on in the TV series, in the same sense in which Captain Sheriden "got better."

 

[Elder-Basilisk]

I'd say GI Joe. Sure it can be done in Spycraft and there are great examples of GI Joe characters converted to spycraft in the Rogue's Gallery thread. However, I think there's more potential for role-playing in GI Joe. Once we'd got past the novelty factor of playing transforming robots, I don't think there's much more to playing Transformers than to playing humans. And if you're playing humans with metal skin, you might as well play humans who can express and experience the entire range of human emotions. (Don't get me started on the "female" robots that showed up in one TV show episode--it just doesn't work. Note that this isn't just about courtship rituals, the sex act and sexual desire--the lack of sex also eliminates the concept of kinship ties and most of the social structure that forms the background for human society. Now, that's fine for a portion of the party in D&D but if the entire party is providing the novelty element it ceases to be novel and instead turns the group into a collection of wierd freaks. And the setting of Transformers precludes humans and other "normal" characters from providing any anchor for ordinary human experience (or empathy with it)).

 

[Wolf72]

Transformers!!!!

I was at Toys'r'us last week, buying a christmas present for my nephew ... and happened to notice they had Transformers: Classics ... spent another $20 that I really shouldn't have to buy a new Prowl.

I did like GI Joe though ... and they've actually got some cool Joe Lego sets now! ... complete with 3 3/4" action figure ...

 

[Tonguez]

Hey guys our problem is solved!

There is already official Transformers - GI Joe crossover so they exisit in the same universe and the Joes are able to keep pace with the giant robots

Also despite what EB says I personally think that the Transformers backstory is full of roleplaying potential. Afterall the Transformers are living beings with souls (sparks) not mere robots. They are descendents of slaves and find themselves in a warzone that they must quite hidden from fragile humanity.

They may not have the same organic reproduction system as humans do, but Transformers do reproduce (after a fashion), they do have motivations and personality and they do form complex social groups and intimate bonds

 

[Endur]

GI Joe can be played with existing systems, so long as you are ok with Snake Eyes being a much more powerful character than the others (character points, feats, levels, etc). Either that or give Snake Eyes the broken 1e version of Ninja from Dragon Magazine.

 

[s/LaSH]

Omnicrom

Unicron, surely?

There's an Omnivron character in a Mutants and Masterminds Superlink product I illustrated called Above And Beyond. Look over my site (in sig) to see some of the art and get a glimpse at the concept... if you haven't already.

 

[Klaatu B. Nikto]

In the movie, Megatron inflicted mortal wounds upon Optimus via hand to hand combat, a shard of metal, an energy sword and a blaster pistol. A seriously wounded Megatron was dumped in space by his loyal lieutenant Starscream and Unicron had him remade into Galvatron, who promptly killed Starscream.

IMO, there's a close second with regards to body count and that's the final 4 or so episodes of Beast Wars, especially the 2 part series finale.

In any case, I'd rather see Transformers d20.